Looking for Pluto
by Katia Earley
Summary: A Walk to Remember AU set in the Girl Meets World universe with RUCAS pairing. Saw the idea floating around Tumblr, and wanted to read one. No one had done it yet, so I decided to write it. WIP
1. Chapter 1

There are two hundred and thirty-three tiles that make up the ceiling in Mr. Bigby's office. Lucas, a frequent visitor to the Principal's office, had started counting them the first time he was sent there after talking back to the jerk of an algebra teacher he had freshman year. It took three separate occasions altogether for him to get the final count, and another two to make sure he didn't count wrong. To be honest, Lucas considered finding out the exact number of tiles the ceiling was made of to be one of his finest accomplishments his first year in high school. It takes a lot of effort to zone out Mr. Bigby when he was talking and count accurately. Take that Mr. La Rue, he can indeed focus on something if he wanted to.

Another fine accomplishment Lucas was successful in upon entering the double doors of Abigail Adams High School three years ago, was making sure everyone knew up front he was not someone to be messed with. As Lucas learned pretty early in his life, it was a dog-eat-dog world out there and he refused to be anyone's bitch. He already got screwed over once before, he does not need a repeat performance.

"Mr. Friar, are you even paying attention to me?" Lucas turned his attention away from the office's ceiling and his thoughts, and put on a disinterested look on his face.

From the expression on Mr. Bigby's face, he was not amused in the slightest. "Mr. Friar, I don't think you understand the severity of your actions."

"And I'm sure you're going to explain it to me then." Lucas said, sarcastically.

Mr. Bigby's face became more taunt than a drawn bow string being pulled past its elasticity limit from Lucas's careless attitude. "You were caught drinking on school grounds, decided to vandalize the school gym, and in the process hurt a fellow classmate leaving him in the hospital. Almost getting arrested doesn't bother you?"

"Not particularly." Lucas replied, playing around with the crutch across his lap.

"Well, what about the fact that your classmate is still in the hospital, recovering from an 'accidental' fall last night? How does that make you feel?" Mr. Bigby asked him in a stern voice.

It took a lot for Lucas to stay emotionless at the air quotes that were applied before and after the word "accidental", but he did. Okay, so maybe he did feel a twinge of guilt for what happened to David Richards. But no one made David meet up with the crew yesterday for the initiation. Although, even Lucas can admit that pushing the ladder when David was on it to teepee the barristers was a douche move. However, how could Lucas have known that the kid wouldn't have been able to hold his balance like the rest of them did when they had to do the same task for their initiation? So really, it should be said it wasn't even Lucas's fault to begin with. Besides, he was the one that caught David when he fell, and Lucas was the one that got his foot sprained for his trouble. Which was why he was the only one to get caught by the security guard while the rest of the crew ran away. Lucas saved David's ass, and now he was getting in trouble for it. Where is the justice in that?

Seeing that he wasn't getting any form of response from his student, Mr. Bigby heaved a huge sigh in annoyance. "You know, the school board has been pushing me to punish disruptive and problem students more harshly. They want to see you face the consequences of your actions, and they want to make sure that I deal with you the way they want me to."

"So what? What are you going to do? Expel me?" Lucas scoffed in defiance.

Mr. Bigby smiled ruefully. "Not yet." He replied simply. Despite his uninterested behavior, Lucas still felt the traitorous feeling of relief from those two words. His mother was already disappointed and heartbroken enough due to him. Finally getting expelled might just nail the fact home that she had done a horrible job raising him. And that is something, regardless of all the shit he gets into and does on a daily basis, he never wants her to feel. She tried her best on her own for the past five years. It isn't her fault that her son is hopeless cause.

"Instead," Mr. Bigby continued, "You will be helping the janitorial staff clean up after school for the rest of the year, you will spend your Saturday mornings tutoring students at your old middle school, and you will take part in the senior spring play."

"You have got to be joking. There is no way I'm doing any of that." Lucas scoffed in disbelief.

Mr. Bigby had about enough of Lucas's attitude and put his foot down. "Young man, you are in no position to have a say in this matter. You will be doing exactly what I said, starting today. And if I get wind that you are not doing what you are supposed to be, there will be harsher consequences. Have I made myself clear?" Mr. Bigby replied, staring the boy straight in the eye.

"Crystal." Lucas replied, bitterness coating his tone. He got up from the seat, leaning heavily on his crutch.

Apparently, Mr. Bigby wasn't done with his lecture, because as Lucas was hobbling towards the door he heard his principal's voice again. "Lucas. It's your senior year; your last year here to prove to everyone that there is more to you than just being a troublemaker. It's about time you start experiencing other things. Spend time with other kinds of people. You know, ones that would be there to build you up, and not leave you behind when you need help. Just think about it. You have so much potential within you. Take this as an opportunity to broaden your horizons. Don't blow it, Lucas. For it may very well be your last free pass."

As Mr. Bigby was talking, Lucas hadn't even turned around to look at him. Which actually made it easier to keep hopping out of the office. He heard so much about his wasted potential for years now and yet here he still was, constantly sent to the principal's office for one offence or another. If all those other times being told he could do better, that there is still good in him that hadn't been tainted five years ago didn't sink in, Lucas had to wonder why people like Mr. Bigby still tried.


	2. Chapter 2

The thing is, Lucas was not always such a problem child. To be completely truthful, he was actually a pretty okay kid. He was attentive in class, got semi good grades, and was on the peewee baseball, basketball, and football team in grade school. He was a typical "All-American" young boy. In fact, he was also a very good friend. Lucas was such a good friend that he had no problem bailing out his best friend, Isaiah Babineaux out of trouble. The only problem with that was that Isaiah- or Zay, as he likes to be called- always seemed to find himself in tight situations that involved people who were older, taller, and a hell of a lot stronger than him.

One such time, back when they were in fifth grade, Zay thought it was would be a good idea to drop a bucket of paint on the head of one of the sixth graders who was being a jerk. While the idea had its merits- bullies needed to pay for what they do and say- they didn't exactly think of a thorough way to avoid getting caught. In the end, the sixth grader they dropped the paint on and his three friends decided to corner them after school. Lucas, using his agile fifth grade boy body, was able to out-move and defeat his opponents. The downside of that was that the school that he had gone to had a zero-tolerance policy, and thus, expelled him from the school.

Unfortunately, he had a bunch of problems with the students at the next school he went to that he started getting into fights practically every day. He was suspended so many times that he had to redo the sixth grade due to all the missed work and class time. His mother and father were at their wits end about what to do with Lucas's school problems.

Luckily (or as it turned out unluckily), Lucas's father was offered a job position in New York City. Mr. Friar had been a doctor in the military for years, and had finally decided to leave the military and expand away from the armed forces. After interviewing extensively with different practices, he finally found what he was looking for in New York City. So at the start of seventh grade, the Friars left their Texas ranch house for an apartment in the Big Apple.

Lucas's parents had told Lucas that being in a new place meant that he had a clean slate. His father told him that he had the perfect chance to be the man he wanted to be without his past clouding his peers' judgments. He was the first person to talk about all the potential Lucas had if he only allowed himself the chance to make good choices. The whole speech was so uplifting and motivating that Lucas let himself believe in his father's words.

His first week at his new middle school proved that everything his father told him could be true. It all started on his first day when on the subway he met two very interesting friends. One of which could be considered his ex, if a very quick succession of events told of a love story gone bad in barely a minute counted. The other one, though, was pushed backwards by her friend and he reflexively caught her in his lap so she wouldn't fall flat on her face. He later found out that he was in their history class, taught by the falling girl's father. He even helped her realize that the "class rebel" label wasn't her at all, and at the end of the day he made three very good friends- Maya Hart, Farkle Minkus, and Riley Matthews. Lucas was so happy that everything was turning out okay that he didn't even realize the terrible thing that was happening between his parents until it already was all done and over with.

Apparently, his father had ended bumping into his old high school sweetheart while waiting on line to buy a coffee and pastry at a Pret A Manger near his father's work. It had all started innocently enough, where they would meet up and talk about everything that had been happening in their lives. But slowly, it became so much more. Lucas's dad would show up late from work, stating that he had last minute patients that needed to be seen. He would get constant texts and phone calls during times when he was home, which he would claim were from the other doctors from the shared clinic he worked at. And then finally, the week-long "conferences" started happening.

Mrs. Friar was not a blind to the changes that she saw in her husband. It was by fate that she learned of her husband's affair very quickly. She had seen them through the window of some high scale restaurant she was passing by on her way home from work one day early on in their rekindled relationship. At this point, it was before the frequent late nights at the office. Not counting the situation she was currently presented with, she and her husband had always been completely honest with each other from their very first date. Mrs. Friar could always read her husband like an open book. She knew all along where this was all headed. Her husband told her all about his first love, his high school sweetheart, his "one that got away." At first, seeing the two of them together made her so angry. How could he do that to her? However, that anger slowly turned to resignation. Objectively speaking, the couple before her looked so in love. They showed her that true love could stand the test of time and distance. She knew that her husband loved her, but she held no candle to the love of his life. But she also knew that with the honesty they shared as a wedded couple, her husband was not going to be able to keep the affair secret for long. A few nights later, just before things started getting very serious between her husband and his lover, he told her everything. Things were said, tears were shed, but ultimately they realized that they couldn't stay together anymore. The two decided that Mr. Friar would move out, and that they would tell Lucas about the new arrangement together.

With everything going on and Lucas adjusting and doing so well in school, they didn't want to do anything that would ruin that. So they waited until they could find a good time to tell him. However, they knew that if they waited too long it would just end up being a bigger disaster than it already would be. So just after winning the seventh grade class presidency, they both sat him down and told him everything. Suffice to say, Lucas did not take it very well. That weekend when Mr. Friar left with his things, Lucas told him he didn't want anything to do with him anymore, that his dad should just pretend he didn't have a son anymore, and that he wished his dad would rot in hell. Lucas later went to his room and trashed it. When his mother had come in to check on him, she saw that most of his things were broken. After looking at him just sitting on the floor with his back leaning against his bed, she saw that the most important thing that got broken that day was his heart.

As much as she tried in the days following, she was unable to help him piece it back together. His father was his absolute hero, and to realize that his hero was so humanly flawed just threw him. Which was evident when his grades started slipping, his attitude started acting up, and he started getting into trouble. When his friend Zay moved to New York City after his dad got a transfer, Lucas regressed back to the normal "Texas Lucas". Due to his new, bad behavior, Lucas lost his president spot on the student council. He had pretty much lost everything he cared for at this point, and felt so numb. It was this empty feeling that led to him promising himself that he would not care for anything anymore, because nothing is guaranteed to last forever.

His new friends tried to help him out, especially Maya- who knew exactly what it was like to have a father walk out- but he was not interested. Lucas started building walls around his crumbled heart, and only let bitter resentment and deep rage seep through. After a while, Lucas started saying horrible things about the three of them that they eventually stopped trying to talk to him.

Whenever he passed them in the halls or had classes with them, Farkle would look quickly to him and then turn away just as fast to avoid his gaze. Maya, on the other hand, would often instigate him or glare at him, hoping he would start something. Not to disappoint, he would raise to challenge, and then neither of them would back down due to their shared stubbornness. The only thing that usually stopped them was Riley. She would quietly tell Maya to let it go, grab her by the arm, and drag her away. And then, like always, she would turn around and give Lucas this searching, resolute look, and walk away with her best friend towards wherever Farkle was waiting for them. And then, like always, Lucas would feel this momentary pang of guilt and hopefulness in his broken heart for a split second. Which he would later trample down the very next second, and carry on with his life.

The reason behind Farkle's hesitance and Maya's wrath was what happened a few weeks after Lucas started pulling away from the group. They were exiting Mr. Matthew's class one day when Riley had stopped him in the hall. Riley told him that she knew he was hurting and that he was acting out because of it. But that didn't mean she didn't still care for him or still consider him a friend. She had also told him that she missed him a lot, and that when the time came when he was ready to be the guy she always knew he could be, his friends- especially her- would be there waiting for him with open arms. When she had finished saying this, she looked at him with soft, pleading eyes, hoping to make him understand. He didn't say anything for a moment, but seeing her hopeful face, he wanted to apologize for the way he was being. He wanted to tell her he didn't want to be this way, but that "Texas Lucas" was the only thing he knew how to be so he could prevent from getting burned again.

But instead, he told her to stop living with her head in the clouds and that being such a naïve little girl was not attractive. The real world would have so much fun chewing her up and spitting her out, and that if she didn't grow up soon life will massacre her. He went to walk away, but since Riley was in his way he shoved into her as he left. Unfortunately, in his rage, he accidently shoved her too roughly and she hit into the wall of lockers hard. He had overheard from a couple of students that Mr. Matthews and Maya had to walk her to the nurse's office because it was painful for her to stand up straight and walk herself.

The next day, she came in late to school and was walking slowly. The first time Lucas saw her after their conversation was when he walked into her father's classroom the next day. As he was passing by her desk to get to his, she looked up at him with big doe eyes with so many different emotions swirling in them. If asked today, Lucas could not tell a single one apart. But what he could remember was how watery her eyes seemed for a second before Mr. Matthews started his lesson. That was when Maya started becoming more hostile to him as well.

To be more accurate, Maya had started becoming more protective of Riley in every way. Not only just to him, but to anyone who said or did anything against her. Missy had ended up saying something mean about Riley in Maya's vicinity a few days later, and ended up having her sloppy joe fall on her dress by Maya. Maya had all but told Lucas to stay the heck away from Riley, and he was more than happy to oblige. That way he was able to get her, and how he hurt her both physically and emotionally, off his mind. However, her constant, silent looks filled with meaning that he couldn't for the life of him decipher, followed him all throughout the rest of their middle school and high school years.

Even now, as he started mopping up the gym floor while the astronomy club was having their weekly meeting, he could still feel her eyes straying from the group and fall on him. Lucas tried to maintain unperturbed by her lingering gaze by listening to music from his Ipod. But that didn't mean that the conversation the group was having went completely unheard by him.

"So this is a simple device made with plastic wrap, a coat hanger, and some wire. Does anyone know what this is?" Lucas heard Riley say from his current position a few feet away. She was holding up some rectangle contraption up in front of her for the newbie freshmen to guess.

"It's a star frame." Lucas said aloud in a falsely bright voice, sliding the mop back and forth across the floor.

Riley turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. He just smirked at her in response.

Lucas saw her turn back to her fellow club members without verbally acknowledging him, and continued. "This is a star frame. You can use it to locate stars and planets with your naked eye." The rest of what she was saying was drowned out by the sudden arrival of Lucas's group of "friends", who barreled into the gym specifically to make fun of him.

Lucas uses the word "friends" loosely, since the only one that he would really, and truly, count as a friend was Zay. The rest of the guys- which included Charlie Gardner and Ricky Bowman- were just extra. Sure he didn't mind hanging around them, he had some pretty good memories with them and Missy Bradford and Serena Abel, of skipping class and sneaking into an abandoned warehouse to smoke and drink back in sophomore year. But, at the same time he would trust them only as far as he could throw them. Which, truth be told, wasn't really all that far regardless of how strong Lucas was. Lucas nodded his head to them in acknowledgement of their arrival.

"Mercury and Jupiter can be seen just over the west, south-western horizon after sunset." Riley continued to explain despite the ruckus the guys were making.

"Bet you can see angels up there flying around." Charlie said to her with a smirk as the group passed by. Zay and Ricky snickered, both putting out their fists for fist bumps for such a remark. Lucas didn't think find the comment all that funny, so he didn't react.

The thing is, Charlie had always been particularly mean to Riley ever since they started high school. Apparently back in middle school he had a crush on her and asked her out. Even though she had politely told him back then that she was not comfortable dating in middle school and hoped he understood, he took it horribly and decided to make her life hellish. It just got steadily worse as they entered high school, and seemed to reach a fever pitch their final year. It didn't help that Riley always seemed so calm and collected, and ready with a quick remark, whenever dealing with Charlie. Just like right now.

"Actually, in fact there are some things that could be called miraculous." Riley told him. "Even Einstein said that the more he studied the universe, the more he believed in a higher power."

Charlie scoffed. "Well, if there is a higher power, then why is it he can't get you another sweater?"

"He's too busy looking for your brain." Riley replied plainly, her upper lip quirking upwards a bit at the corners.

"Daaaaamn. Burn!" Zay exclaimed, wrapping an arm around the now stunned speechless Charlie's shoulder. Charlie roughly shrugged it off while he and Ricky laughed harshly at his expense.

Lucas, seeing the stunned expression turning to anger, quickly intervened to prevent making a scene. "Hey, come on. Laugh, it was a joke man."

"Whatever." Charlie muttered, moving away from the astronomy club and Riley, and towards Lucas. "Let's go." He finished

"I can't. Gotta stay or Principal Bigby will have my ass." Lucas told them.

"Come on, Lucas, Principal Bigby is gone. Let's make a move." Zay said enthusiastically. Charlie reached over by the wall and grabbed the crutch Lucas had been using to move around. Not that he actually needed it that much anymore. His sprain wasn't so bad anymore and he could finally put some weight on it without feeling intense pain.

"I, uh…" Lucas hesitated.

"Uhhh," Charlie mimicked. "Come on, dude." He continued, leaning against the crutch.

"I don't know." Lucas replied back, thinking about how disappointed his mother would be if he ended up getting caught again and punished harsher than he already was.

"Well, whenever you are done being such a bitch, come find us. We're headed to Topanga's with Missy and Serena." Ricky told him. "However," he continued mockingly. "This whole cleaning thing, though, really suits you. Sexy, even." He finished with wiggling eyebrows.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Aw, thanks buddy. Really." He said. "You guys can go."

With exaggerated blow kisses and extra laughs, the guys left Lucas to finish up his janitorial duties. As soon as they left, something compelled Lucas to turn towards Riley.

And once again, Riley had this peculiar look on her face directed just to him. If Lucas read her expression correctly, he could have sworn it looked like she was proud of him for choosing to see through his punishment.

Not liking the unusual feeling that was bubbling in his chest, he quickly went back to finishing his job. Lucas was hoping that there wouldn't be any more distractions, but the world was against him on that. Which, honestly, wasn't really all that new to him.

"Hey, Huckleberry! You missed a spot!" Lucas groaned. Of course the world would send Maya Hart into the gym precisely at this moment.

"Run along, Short-stack. Nothing to see here." Lucas called out.

Maya smirked. "True. Just seeing some Texas tumbleweed blowing away in the wind." She got up really close to him, pursed her lips, and blew air into his face.

Before Lucas could say or do anything, Maya skipped along to Riley. "Ready to go, Riles?" She asked her best friend.

Riley shook her head. "Not yet, Maya. There is still ten minutes left."

"So, let the noobs out early, pretty sure they wouldn't mind. Right?" Maya questioned the five freshmen that made up the club. All of them looked up at her with wide eyes, unsure what to respond with.

Real noob behavior, if Lucas was honest. Maya Hart was like a dog, she could smell fear from a mile away. Those freshies had no idea what they were in for.

As he was thinking this, Lucas didn't really notice that someone else had come into the gym to see him.

"Lucas!" Missy called out as she walked towards him.

Lucas winced. This is just the fricking cherry on the cake of this crappy day. "Missy, what are you doing here?" Lucas asked, trying really hard to be polite.

"Serena and I were going to meet up with guys when they said that you were still here. Are you not going to come out with us? If you're not up to it we can go back to my house. My parents aren't going to be home until really late anyway, busy season and all that." Missy suggested, twirling a piece of her long brown hair around her index finger.

Aware that he had the attention of his two former friends, he knew he had to tread carefully. "I don't think that's such a good idea." Lucas told her.

Missy stopped twirling her hair. "What? Why?"

"Missy, we've been over this already many, many times. We are over." He told her slowly, hoping that after the millionth time telling her it will finally seep through.

"Well, yeah, I know that." Missy said.

"Nothing's changed." Lucas told her plainly.

Missy didn't even bother to reply as she stomped out of gym in a huff.

"Trouble in paradise, Friar?" Maya sniggered. She only stopped when Riley elbowed her in the side.

"Fuck you, Hart." Lucas remarked.

"As if." Maya countered. "Who knows where you've been."

Lucas wanted to so badly to wipe the smug smirk off of Maya's face. He may have been a delinquent, but even he wouldn't stoop to the lowest of lows and really punch a girl. Even if that girl was a major pain in the ass like Maya Hart.

"Whatever, you aren't worth it." Lucas muttered to himself as he raised the volume on his Ipod and tried to ignore everyone and everything until he was done.

When he finally got home, he said hi to his mother, went to his room, belly-flopped onto his bed, and went straight to sleep without changing.

It was a wonderful, sweet surrender.


	3. Chapter 3

Or at least it was while it lasted.

Lucas's blissful Saturday morning sleep was interrupted by his mother coming into his room at six thirty.

"Lucas, honey, wake up. Come on, Lucas, up." His mother said, pulling the covers off of Lucas's body. She walked over to the window and opened the blinds. The early morning sun was unforgiving, and Lucas was getting its full wrath.

"Urrrgh." Lucas garbled.

Mrs. Friar just shook her head in begrudged amusement. On one hand, her son was hilarious in the morning since he was most definitely not a morning person. Just seeing her poor baby try to readjust to the land of the living was sheer entertainment that never failed to make her laugh. But the whole thing was tainted by the reason why he had to get up so early in the first place.

"Sweetheart, come on. You need to get to school." She tried again, giving Lucas a shake to get him to wake up completely.

"No I don't," Lucas mumbled. "It's Saturday."

He meant to turn around to get away from the direct line of the sun's rays coming through the window. However, his mother's sturdy hand on his shoulder prevented him to do so.

"Tutoring at the middle school, remember?" She told him, eyebrows raised.

Lucas heaved a sigh of extreme annoyance and started mumbling angrily to himself. "Wonderful." He had this deep feeling in his gut that today was going to be an interesting one. But knowing his luck, there was a huge possibility that it would not be interesting in his favor.

His suspicions were confirmed when he arrived at the high school and waited to get on the yellow bus taking the twelve seniors to the middle school. That was when he saw her, Riley Matthews. Of course she would volunteer her weekends to tutor ungrateful middle school brats for fun.

Since this was the first time he really saw her alone since that day he accidentally pushed her into the lockers, Lucas took a moment to observe her. Despite the fact that five years had passed, she still looked completely the same. Well, not completely. Obviously, the years had divested her of some of her childhood fat, especially in her cheeks. And yet, those cheeks remained permanently tinged rosy pink, regardless of whatever she may be feeling. Her eyes were still as brown and expressive as they have always been. Riley's once long, glossy brown hair had been cut short- and left short- to her shoulders about a month after their confrontation. People thought it was her going into mourning for the loss of his friendship and thought it really dramatic. But nobody dared say that out loud lest Maya was ever near enough to hear them.

As Lucas kept observing her, he even took in her style of clothes. Well, if it can even be called "style". Riley's clothes seemed to have done a complete one-eighty from when he first met her. She usually had on quirky heels, layered her shirts, wore bright patterns, and chose eye-popping colors. On anyone else, it would have looked ridiculous, but it matched the whole "Princess Star Shine" persona she had going on in seventh grade. But then, one day it all changed. Riley started wearing looser and plainer clothing, and actually wore regular sneakers on a routine basis. Her usual item of clothing she had on every day, which was a source of much teasing from Lucas's crew, was her pale blue sweater. Even today, she had that same pale blue sweater on. It was so raggedy that looked like it would come apart with just one hard tug on any of the many loose threads it had. He never understood why she didn't just buy herself a new one.

But then again, there was still so much about her that he didn't understand. And he didn't know why that thought made him so uncomfortable. Hopefully, as he sat in the back of the yellow bus heading to John Quincy Adams Middle School, he could drown out those particular thoughts about her and mentally prepare himself for the whatever hell that awaited him.

The whole tutoring session was a complete and utter waste of time in Lucas's opinion. For starters, he was walking through the halls where he became the mess he now was. In the beginning, these halls represented a place where he could have started over and become someone to be proud of. But they quickly became a place where his hopes dead a swift, yet painful, death. Confronting that fact had left a bitter taste in Lucas's mouth even before he met up with the kid he was supposed to be tutoring in math.

Then, when Lucas met his tutoring kid, he realized that he had his work cut out for him. His tutoring kid, Louis, was not in the mood to learn. Lucas gathered up every ounce of patience he had to not shake the kid for not understanding something as basic as different types of triangles. Lucas should have gotten an award for slowly explaining the same thing over and over again. However, all he got for his trouble was Louis acting up, calling the whole thing bullshit, and stalking away out of the classroom loudly. All of which disturbed the rest of the students and tutors. Personally, Lucas had to agree with the kid, this whole thing was bullshit. He was thankful when it reached time for them to get back on the school bus and head back to the high school.

As he looked out of the window, Lucas didn't think the day could get any worse. However, as always he was proven wrong within a few minutes into the trip back.

"Hey." A voice sounded from his right. He didn't even need to turn around to know who that bright, slightly nasally voice came from.

There sitting in the seat next to him, not even three inches apart was Riley.

Lucas gave a short glance and then turned back away, keeping his earphones in his ears.

"You want to buy some raffle tickets? We are trying to raise money so we could buy John Quincy Adams some new computers for their computer lab."

"No." He said curtly, looking down at his Ipod to skip the current song he was listening to. Lucas hoped that the loud bass of the next song would drown out whatever Riley was saying and would make her leave him alone quicker.

No such luck. "So I saw the way you were in there with Louis. And I know it can be very difficult, but maybe you should try backing into it from somewhere else." She continued to speak, not deterred by the cold, indifferent reaction she was getting.

He didn't verbally acknowledge that he heard anything Riley was saying, but still she pushed on. She just did not know when to just quit. That seemed to be her biggest problem.

"Are you going to visit David?" Again Lucas did not respond verbally. But his hand clutched tighter around his Ipod, threatening to snap it in half. "That would be a no. Well, they moved him from the hospital to a rehab place."

Suddenly, Lucas couldn't take her babbling any longer. "Is this your idea of small talk or something? Because if it is, your social skills need some work. No one forced him to climb that ladder." Lucas snapped at her, finally giving Riley his full attention as he roughly pulled out the earphones from his ears. The muted beat coming out the earphones could be heard by the two of them.

"It's called peer pressure." Riley said, frowning at his quick dismissal of blame and unapologetic tone.

Lucas scoffed. Like he needed to be anymore judged. "And how do you know about that? Did you read it in your precious book?" He pointed towards the bible that was sitting in Riley's lap.

Another thing that had changed with her since they met was how into religion she had gotten. Actually, it wasn't so much about religion to her as it was about hope and faith. Riley had always been full of hope and faith in everything and everyone around her. Religion gave her something to tether that abundance of hope and faith to. She began going to church on Sundays with her family, and dragged Maya and Farkle along with her sometimes. Both obviously went to the service because of Riley. Lucas only knew about this because as a white Christian from Texas, he also went to church every Sunday with his mother. While Farkle and Maya went for Riley, Lucas went for his mother. He didn't believe in God, not really. Because if God existed, he wouldn't make people get together just so they could fall apart. Unless he was a sadist son of a bitch.

A heavy sigh brought Lucas back to the present. "Please don't pretend that you know me anymore. Okay?" Riley said, hands touching the book in her lap.

Lucas gave a short, cold laugh. "But I do. I do. We have all the same classes and have been in the same school since the seventh grade. Why, you're Riley Matthews. Your dad is our history teacher, and has been for six years. You sit at lunch table seven. While not necessarily the reject table, it is still very close to self-exile territory. Although you sit with your lap dog and guard dog. Whoops, I mean best friends, Farkle and Maya. As to how Farkle and you still maintain your friendship, I understand. But how high school hasn't fucked up your friendship with Maya is beyond me. The two of you are basic opposites, and your relationship with each other shouldn't even work. But whatever, I digress, weirder things have happened."

He took a short breath, and gave her an obvious scanning look before continuing. "You have exactly one sweater, you like to look at your feet when you walk. Oh and yeah, you like to tutor on the weekends and hang out with the cool kids from astronomy club. So how does that sound?" Lucas asked her with a smirk.

Riley thought about it for a second. "Fairly predictable. Nothing I haven't heard before."

Lucas looked at her in disbelief. "So what? You don't care about what people think about you?" He asked.

"No. I did before but realized in the end it doesn't matter as much as I thought it did. Besides, people are always going to talk about you anyway. It's up to us to decide whether or not to listen." Riley replied with a serene smile as she got up from Lucas's seat and moved back to her one up front.

Not wanting to show that their conversation affected him, Lucas quickly shoved the earphones back into his ears and turned up the volume some more. However, Riley's parting words echoed in his head the entire ride back to the school, and on his subway ride back to his apartment.

It's up to us to decide whether or not to listen, Riley had said. But how is it possible to even make that decision? What kind of superpower did she have that made her able to decide no? And how is it that Riley Matthews always seemed so quick to get under his skin?


	4. Chapter 4

Thankfully, the rest of the weekend passed by without much pomp or circumstance for Lucas. The only other eventful thing that happened was that he was emotionally blackmailed by his mother to accompany her to the grocery store. Lucas spent little to no thought at all about Riley Matthews after Saturday.

However, that didn't stop him from thinking about her once the school week started back up. It seemed as though he was even more hyperaware of her presence than he was before. Everywhere he turned she was there, either putting away her books in her locker or fooling around with her phone. It was like his eyes were moths that gravitated to her light. The whole day, Lucas had to keep telling himself to stop looking over towards her whenever they were in proximity. Old, dusty feelings that Lucas thought his cold heart could no longer feel, started again. It was starting to really irritate him.

Just like Zay was right now.

"Man, I still can't believe you have to work with the drama club for the spring musical." Zay said, laughing as he opened his locker.

Lucas sighed, already reaching into his own locker for his backpack. This was literally the fiftieth time Zay had said this today. Which made sense since today was the first day of rehearsal.

"I know." Lucas replied. After getting everything he needed, Lucas slammed the door with a bit more force than he usually did. He hoped that Zay was finally done with his disbelief so Lucas can finally get to the school auditorium. At this point, he was bound to be late given that the auditorium was located on the other side of the building and he had to use a crutch.

Once again, fate decided not to side with Lucas. Zay was not finished. "Do they even know you cannot sing for the life of you? I mean, I love you man, but you sound like a tone deaf, choking walrus." Zay saw that Lucas was hobbling on his good foot to reach the crutch that he placed on the ground when he opened his locker. So Zay picked it up and handed it to him.

"Thank you, really. I appreciate being told things I already know." Lucas sniped, sarcasm dripping from his lips as he took the crutch from his friend.

"No problem, you know me. Keeping it real." Zay replied with a bright smile, knowing and loving how much he was getting to Lucas. As he was leaving, Zay decided to add one more thing. "You could look on the bright side of this situation."

Lucas scoffed and raised his eyebrow. "Oh yeah, and what is that?"

"Well," Zay started. "Girls dig actor types." He finished with a wink.

Lucas wanted to be mad, but he couldn't help but be amused by his friend's antics. Lucas elbowed him playfully in the ribs. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. See you." He told Zay as he was leaving.

"See you, dude." And with a wave, Lucas was off to the auditorium.

He was right in his assessment that he would be late. As he was approaching the door, he could hear the drama club teacher, Mrs. Dansbury, speaking.

"This year's spring musical is a story of burning passing and blazing tommy guns. Written by our very own Farkle Minkus, with words and music co-written by Maya Hart and Riley Matthews. It follows the rise and fall of Tommy Thorton in Prohibition era New York. Farkle, perhaps you…"

At this point Lucas decided it would be best to make an appearance. Mrs. Dansbury and the rest of the drama club turned their attention to him as soon as the old, creaky door opened. "Ah, Mr. Friar, better late than never. Please join us." Mrs. Dansbury told him, mentioning to one of the empty seats available on stage.

"Sure." Lucas slowly made his way to the chair, and joined in with the rest of the group. On his way, he saw Riley sitting with Maya and Farkle, all three of whom were giving him more attention than the rest of their peers were. Maya's eyes had that ever present fire specifically aimed at him, and Farkle sent him a small, weak smile that looked more like a grimace than anything else. Riley, on the other hand, caught his stare and held it until Mrs. Dansbury spoke again.

"Now then, let's see. Riley will be our Alicia, mysterious club singer. Maya will be playing Caroline. And Lucas will read for Tommy Thorton." Mrs. Dansbury said, reading off from her notepad.

Lucas, who wasn't paying much attention to what was going on, suddenly sat up straight in his chair when what the teacher said sunk in.

"Ha, no. No. See, I didn't plan on acting or anything." Lucas explained, trying desperately to remain collected despite internally panicking.

If Mrs. Dansbury heard his objections, she didn't acknowledge them. She just kept pushing on. Lucas eyes immediately looked at his old friends. He groaned softly when he saw the big, satisfied smirk on Maya's face. Lucas knew that he would not be able to get out of this.

"Before we start, any questions?" Mrs. Dansbury asked.

Lucas wondered if now would be a good time to ask if someone would kill him. He's pretty sure Maya wouldn't object to that.

"Alright," Mrs. Dansbury said, clapping her hands together cheerfully. "Let's begin." And when no one raised their hands, they promptly began running lines.

"When did you know, Tommy?" Maya asked him in a southern accent her character in the play was written to have.

Lucas swallowed and looked down at his copy of the script. "Know what?" He read out, slowly.

"That we were in love." Maya said, still in character and without even needed to peek at script in her lap.

"Love? Uh," Lucas, however, didn't know what his lines were at all. He knew he was horrible at this, and he did tell Mrs. Dansbury that he didn't plan on acting. It wasn't his fault that she didn't listen. "Uh, baby, believe me. You wouldn't want to be falling in love with a guy like me."

"It's too late, Tommy. I'm crazy about you. I'm breathing it, drinking it all in. Aren't you?"

The only thing Lucas was doing at the moment was feeling nauseous. Forget the fact that this was the dialogue in the play, hearing those words coming out of Maya Hart's lips directed to him was just so damn weird. He did have to hand it to her though, for being able to say all that without a flinch.

"Yeah. I don't know what I am drinking, Dollface, but if this is love pour me again glass?" Lucas couldn't keep in character with this line. He face scrunched up in disgust at the cheesiness.

Mrs. Dansbury took off her glasses and looked at him in disapproval. "Mr. Friar, are you trying to be bad at this?" She asked.

"Um, no. It just comes naturally." Lucas replied, trying to hide the truth of his words behind self-depreciating humor. It always works for him as a defense mechanism after all.

The rest of the students giggled and laughed, and Lucas put a fake smile on his face. Mrs. Dansbury just shook her head. "Alright everybody. Let's just go to the end now, and then we can all leave."

Lucas exhaled slowly, and flipped his script to the end of the play. It was blatantly obvious that Lucas was no actor, and yet Mrs. Dansbury expected him to be the lead. He didn't know that he could feel such utter joy to what he felt when Mrs. Dansbury told them that rehearsal was over. Despite his injured foot, Lucas was one of the first ones out of the auditorium.

Unfortunately, it wasn't until he was outside did he realize he had a bit of an issue. He needed to take the subway to go home. However, since his injury, he had been riding with Zay so that his friend could help him with his things. Since Zay had been long gone back home, Lucas was a bit anxious about riding the subway alone. So he decided to wait a bit outside the school to mentally and physically prepare himself.

As he was waiting he saw students leaving in groups. One such group held his three ex-friends. Not wanting to be seen, he ducked away behind the side of the building.

"Don't even pretend that you won't be great, Pumpkin. You're a kickass actor." He heard Maya say.

"Aw, thanks Peaches. But I think Farkle deserves some credit. Can't really perform all that well if you don't understand the writer's vision." Riley replied, cheeks most likely pink due to the compliment. Still modest as ever.

"Nah. Maya's right, Riley. Just take the compliment." Farkle said, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Okay, okay. Thank you guys." Riley gushed, appreciation coating her tone.

"No problem, Riles." Farkle replied. "I have to get going, Mom and Dad decided today would a good day for a family meeting."

"Family meeting?" Riley asked in concern.

"Yeah, Farkle. Everything good with the Minkii?" Despite her teasing tone, even Maya was concerned for her friend.

"Oh, yeah, everything is good. I think my parents just want to know what is happening in their childrens' lives. Touch base and all that since they've been busy lately." Farkle reassured them.

"That's great. I'm glad they are spending time with you guys." Riley said sincerely. Maya nodded her head to show she was glad too.

"Thanks guys. See you tomorrow." Farkle hugged them both and walked away.

"Alright, Riles, I need to get going myself. Otherwise I'll be late for a very important date." Maya said once it was just the two of them.

Riley laughed. "Yeah, I know. You've only just mentioned it a million times."

A big smile stretched across Maya's face. "What can I say, I'm in love."

"Still not calling you Aunt, Maya." Riley told her mockingly.

"We'll see." Maya pulled her tongue out in fun and said goodbye.

"Say hi to Uncle Josh for me, Peaches!" Riley called out as Maya was walking away.

Maya turned around to blow her a fly kiss, and then kept on walking.

It was only once both Farkle and Maya left that Lucas came out from his hiding spot. He had no idea that in doing so would cause Riley to come up to him again.

"So," Riley said, resignation in her voice. "Would it kill you to try harder for the play?"

Lucas was surprised that Riley decided to try talking to him again so soon after the dastardly conversation they had on the bus Saturday. "Yep. And I'm too young to die." He told her, trying to cover up his surprise.

Riley let out a breath and briefly closed her eyes before opening them again, collecting herself. "Okay, so you don't care about classes or graduating. But you like school because you are popular and you'll never be on top again." She told him, plainly.

"That's thoroughly predictable." Lucas replied, throwing the same words she told him on Saturday back in her face.

She just nodded, and started walking away.

It wasn't until a split second later that he realized that they both take the same subway line home. Knowing that he would probably regret it at some point later, he hobbled his way towards her.

"Hey," Lucas called out. Riley turned around and looked at him expectantly. "You feeling Christian?" No one ever did say that Lucas was never an asshole.

Regardless of his asshole tendencies or not, that is how Lucas found himself fifteen minutes later riding the subway with Riley Matthews, questioning his sanity.

To distract himself from that thought, he started tapping against his knee.

"Will you stop that?" Riley asked him, after the first few minutes he started to.

"How about no?" Lucas replied in defiance and started tapping his knee louder.

Riley just rolled her eyes. "Fine, you win."

Lucas knew that it was immature, but he was happy with his victory.

"Forty-two." Riley said out loud, out of the blue.

This got Lucas to stop his tapping. He turned to the brown haired girl sitting next to him, wondering if she was having some psychotic episode or something.

"Forty-two? What do you mean forty-two?" Lucas asked.

"Forty-two is be kind to people I don't like. It's a to-do list I have for my life." Riley explained.

"To-do list? What, like getting a new personality?"

Riley shook her head. "No. Like spend a year in the Peace Corp, make a medical discovery, be in two places at once, get a tattoo, and a whole lot more."

"Okay, so what's number one?" Lucas asked, swaying to the side as the train pulled up to the current station's platform.

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." With a bright smile, Riley got up from her seat, took her things, and skipped out of the train's door without giving Lucas another glance.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey all. This is my next chapter. I am updating as I write the chapters, so please ignore all the grammar and spelling mistakes. Also, that means I don't exactly have an updating schedule. I will try my hardest to do at least a chapter a week, but no promises since real life for me is pretty hectic right now. Please, please leave a review. I am really into writing this story, and I would love to know if you like it too.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Girl Meets World or A Walk to Remember. This is for fun, not profit. Enjoy.**

Over the next few weeks, it had become very much apparent how badly Lucas actually sucked at acting. At this point in time, sucked badly was a gross understatement. And yet, Lucas persevered through the ridiculously cheesy and over dramatic dialogue to try and get it right. He had been reading his lines every day after coming home from school since he was given the damn script. He had no time to spend with the crew, and had to deal with all the teasing. This entire mess was getting on his very last nerve. Lucas had all the intention to quit, screw the consequences, by the end of the first week. However, after the first Thursday night he had the script, he couldn't bring himself to.

That Thursday night had gone the same way all the previous nights had. He came home, half-heartedly did his homework, did whatever chores his mother had asked him to do since Thursdays were her late nights, and then started running lines. Lucas would remember all the dialogue in some places, but then would completely blank out at the others. Not only that, but it was never consistent. While during one read through he would remember his lines, the very next time he would forget the very same ones. The constant flipping close, and then needing to open up of the script not even two seconds later was starting to frustrate him. To avoid giving in to his temptation of ripping the script up into shreds, he flung it against the living room couch and walked away. A break was a good idea.

However, as even as he walked away, the words of dialogue swirled through his mind. Wrapping themselves around every nook and cranny of his thoughts, he began citing the lines in his head. Eventually, without realizing it, he went back to the couch and took the script in his hands. All the while, he started saying the lines out loud.

Lucas was doing well up until he got to the part where Alicia was introduced. That was the part where he made the most slip ups. But he pushed on with determination to remember.

"Who are you, Doll? Where did you come from? Of all the nights, of all the places, to have met? Is this…" At this point Lucas started struggling. "Is this… damn…Come on, Lucas, you got this. Is this… Is this what you would call destiny? God, please tell me I got that line right, please."

Lucas flipped open his script and read from the pages. His face broke out into a huge grin. "Yes!" He yelled in triumph, elated with pleasure. "I remembered!"

"Good going, Lucas. I guess you really are getting some sort of hang of it then?" A voice broke through his celebrations.

Lucas startled and turned towards the voice. So engrossed in rehearsing, he didn't even hear his mother came in through the door.

"Mom, hey. You're home earlier than I thought you would be." Lucas said with a cough, cheeks tinged rosy pink.

Mrs. Friar just smiled. "Yeah, I finished all my work for the night quicker than usual so I picked up some Chinese for us to eat. Have you eaten yet?" She asked her son, holding up a takeout bag.

Before Lucas could open his mouth to answer, his stomach gave a massive growl.

"Well, I guess that answers that question." His mother said with a laugh. "Come on, let's eat."

Following his mother into the kitchen, Lucas saw his mother put down an envelop on the side table in the foyer.

"What's that envelop, Mom?" He asked, after they entered the kitchen. He took the bag from his mother, placed it on the counter, and took out some plates.

Lucas heard a flurry of movement as his mother took the cartons out of the bag. "Oh, that? It's this month's check from your father." She said nonchalant.

"Oh." He responded harshly.

Mrs. Friar looked at her son to find silent rage paint his face. It was a standard Lucas response to whenever his father was mentioned. "Which reminds me, have you talked to your Dad lately? He was worried about you with the whole school incident."

Lucas scoffed. "Worried about me? Why the hell would that prick be worried about me? And you know I want nothing to do with that asshole, so no, I haven't talked to him."

"Lucas." Mrs. Friar started saying.

"Mom, just let it drop. I don't know how you could even forgive him for doing what he did to you, but don't expect me to be able to do the same."

Taking a deep breath, Mrs. Friar answered him. "Honey, when you finally find someone who you love with all your heart, it wouldn't matter what pain you end up going through as long as they are happy. Your father isn't perfect, Lucas, no one is. But I would never regret being with him or be angry at him because he gave me you."

Wanting the subject of his father to drop, Lucas decided to get back to what they were originally doing. "Whatever. Let's just eat, yeah?"

Subject effectively dropped, Lucas and his mother made other small talk as they ate their Chicken Lo Mein and General Tso's chicken, avoiding the massive five year pink elephant in the room. It was when dinner was over and Lucas had finished loading up the dishwasher when it happened.

"Lucas, I know with everything going on I haven't said it recently, but I just wanted to say how proud I am of you." His mother told him, taking his hand in hers.

"What do you mean, Mom? Why are you proud of me?" Lucas was so confused. He had done nothing to make his mother proud of him lately. Did she forget how he almost got arrested? Or how his actions got a fellow classmate seriously hurt enough to need physical therapy? Or even the fact that he only narrowly avoided expulsion?

Mrs. Friar heaved a giant sigh, knowing exactly what her son was thinking. "I know that you had done some pretty bad things lately, but you have taken to your punishments so well. To see you actually get up earlier than the sun on Saturdays when you usually wake up at two in the afternoons just to tutor; or just watching you try your hardest to remember your lines for the Spring play. It makes me so proud to see you making an effort."

Lucas was speechless. Trying to cover the fact that his mother's words left such a huge impact on him he cleared his throat. "Thanks, thanks Mom." He said quietly.

"No problem, Honey." She replied back to him, smile still on her face.

"I'm gonna go to sleep now, school night you know?" Lucas told her, trying to leave.

"Yeah, I know. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

It was that conversation with his mother that made Lucas suck it up and go forward with the play. Knowing that his mother was proud of him regardless of messing up so much in recent years made Lucas really want to be better. He put more effort into the play and didn't half-ass it anymore. He wanted his mother to be able to tell people that it was her son up on stage doing the amazing job as the lead character.

However, as it was turning out to be, that wish would just be another pipe dream to add on a long list of pipe dreams that Lucas would never tell a soul about. It appeared that no matter how many times he practiced he just wasn't improving. Lucas thought that if he ran the lines with someone else, it might help him get into the rhythm of performing the play. Unfortunately, the only person who would even agree to help him was Zay.

"I've come to see if you're ready." Zay read from the script, grabbing a fistful of potato chips from the bag placed in his lap.

Zay had been coming over to Lucas's apartment for the past two weeks to help Lucas with his lines. According to Zay, it wasn't that much of a chore for him. He was able to get free food and hilarious entertainment every day after school. What more could he possibly want?

While Zay was chilling out on the couch, Lucas was hobbling back and forth on his crutch hoping movement would make it easier for him to recall the dialogue.

"Take a good look, Lady, cuz the only thing I'm ready for is a dirt nap." Lucas replied.

"Ready to look inside your heart, Tom Thorton. Your words have been heard. And not just by me." Zay responded back, dramatically at a higher pitch to sound like a girl.

Shaking his head at his best friend's antics, he tried to remember his next line. Not wanting his crutch anymore, Lucas hobbled towards the couch to put his crutch down. Seeing Lucas struggle with it, Zay took it from his hands, his eyes never straying from the script as Lucas started speaking again.

Lucas started limping as he started pacing again. "When you walked into…Oh shit" He hesitated, drawing a blank, and opened up his copy of the play. "When you walked out of the rain and into my club, that wasn't a coincidence was it?" He said, closing his script and getting really into the story.

"Nothing's coincidence, baby, you know you're the only one who can make me say…" Zay started saying, eyes wide and overly flirty.

"Come on, man, come on." Lucas snapped at him, not here for his shenanigans. "You know I only have another three weeks to memorize this stuff right?"

Zay let out a low whistle. "Dude, I love you, but you couldn't pull this off even if you had three months. Ryan Gossling couldn't even make this shit work."

Lucas gave him a pleading look. "I didn't write it okay?"

"Well, yeah, obviously. You have an emotional depth of a spoon for the performance arts." Zay told him bluntly.

"Zay."

The boy in questions raised his arms up in defense. "Look, all I'm saying is that you may not have written it, but you are the one who is supposed to say it. You are the one who's going to make a jackass out of himself in front of everyone who sees the play." Zay said.

Running a hand over his face, Lucas responded. "It's not like I have a choice, Zay. So would you help me out please?" He pleaded.

Zay got up from the couch and made his way towards where Lucas was standing, and put a hand on his shoulder. "You know I'm just playing right? I'm gonna be there opening night, front row, and you can count on it. With tomatos." He told Lucas with a bright smile.

Lucas couldn't help but laugh. It was one of the many things he liked about Zay. That in any given situation that is tense, he would always find a way to make Lucas laugh. "Thanks man." Lucas told him, putting his arm out for a fist bump which was quickly reciprocated.

As they were getting back into going over lines, they heard the apartment door open.

"Hey boys. Care to help a poor woman out with bringing in the groceries?" Mrs. Friar called out, hands full of bags. The two saw that there were still plenty more on the floor of the hallway outside.

"Sure thing, Mrs. F." Zay said immediately, walking towards her and taking the bags off her hands. "My momma and pops raised me to be a gentleman." He informed her, big charming grin spread across his face. Lucas rolled his eyes.

"Pretty sure that was Meemaw Carmichael." Lucas corrected him with a smirk, taking the bags still in the hallway into his hands.

"Damn straight. That woman was fierce. I loved her to death. God rest her dear soul, but that woman scared the bejesus out of me." Zay said with a shiver.

"And yet you couldn't seem to find yourself out of trouble?" Mrs. Friar asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Had to give the old lady something to look forward to, now didn't I?"

Mrs. Friar laughed. "Oh Zay."

While Lucas looked at his mother and Zay talking, Lucas was fighting an internal battle with himself on a completely different topic. He knew that he needed to get better with the play and he had a very limited time to do it. There was really only one person he knew that could even begin to help him. All he needed to do was swallow his pride and just do it.

Lucas was going to ask Riley Matthews to help him memorize his lines.

The next day at school, Lucas waited until the hallway was empty to talk to her. She was at her locker putting away some of her books.

"Riley." He called to her.

Riley turned away from her locker to face him. A brief look of confusion flitted across her face before she adopted a more neutral expression.

"What do you want, Lucas? In the past five years, you have never been the first one to say hello."

Lucas rubbed his neck in anxiousness. How is it that talking this to girl could throw him so off balance?

"I need help with my lines." He said, saying the words quickly and quietly even though no one was around to hear him ask for assistance.

"Lucas Friar is asking me for help?" Riley asked, eyebrows raised.

"Well, yeah."

Riley looked like she was thinking about it, but answered him swiftly. "Okay. I'll pray for you."

"Riley, look," Lucas started, starting to sound desperate. "I really…"

The slam of Riley's locker door interrupted Lucas from talking.

"Obviously you've never asked anybody for help before right? A request like yours requires flattery and groveling. It can't be all about you and it has to be for the common good for everybody." Riley said, walking away from him.

Lucas walked faster to catch up to her. "It is for the common good." Seeing the look of disbelief on her face, he decided to change tactics and use something that he knew would make her reconsider. It was underhanded, but he was utterly desperate. "Farkle Minkus deserves the best, don't you think? Please?"

Riley hesitated a bit, and started considering it. Lucas knew that she was going to give in before she even opened her mouth.

"Okay, but one condition though, Lucas." Riley said, letting out a breath.

"What's that?" Lucas asked. Thousands of possibilities of embarrassing things she would make him do passed through his mind before he realized that he was dealing with "Smiley Riley" (who was just too good to do anything mean to anyone), and not Maya (who would destroy anyone if she wanted to without caring for the consequences).

"You have to promise you won't fall in love with me." Riley answered, looking him straight in the eyes.

Lucas let out a low chuckle. She can't be serious. However, looking at the expression on her face she was very much serious. "That's not a problem." He told her.

Satisfied with his compliance to her rule, Riley nodded her head. "Okay. I'll see you this afternoon after school."

"Okay." Lucas said.

And with that the two of them went their separate ways to their next class. As they were leaving, Lucas was struck with a sudden bout of doubt and was tempted to run back to her to call the whole thing off.

Something in his gut was telling him that, for better or worse, the cautiously crafted life that Lucas had made was about to crumble to bits.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: AHHH hello dear readers! Sorry it's been forever since I last updated. Unfortunately, Netflix had gotten rid of "A Walk to Remember," and I have been trying to find a good copy online. Rest assured I found one, so now I can start writing again. Additionally, I have had a bit of a writer's block, and just got over it. It just sucks that I got over just as I got the horrible news of Disney cancelling the show. However, we still have fics to look forward to! So hopefully for the people who have been waiting so ever patiently for me to update, I hope this cheers you up. Again, please excuse all typos and grammar mistakes. I will try to write more frequently, but I can make no promises because of real life obligations. Hope you understand.**

 **Anyways, without further ado, the next chapter!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Girl Meets World or A Walk to Remember. This is for fun not profit. Enjoy! :]**

Throughout the rest of the day the feeling of dread intensified within Lucas, settling heavily in his chest. How was he going to avoid his friends and meet up with Riley Matthews without anyone knowing?

"Hey man, you coming tonight right?" Charlie whispered to him during English.

Lucas mentally smacked himself on the head. Of course today just had to be Wednesday. Wednesdays were when the crew hung out together doing whatever, wherever. Usually, the group met up at the Gardiner residence since his parents were hardly ever home. And when that they were home, they didn't pay much attention to their son or his hooligan friends. Not even the sight of bottles of their good liquor sprawled across their coffee table half emptied caused them any alarm. Now that Lucas really thought about it, this fact could explain Charlie's behavior in general.

However, he had no time to dwell on that chain of thought. Lucas needed to find some excuse to explain his absence tonight, and he needed one quick. "I, uh, I can't" He coughed, trying to hide the hesitance in his voice. "I promised my mom that I would help her assemble the new television stand we got from Ikea this past weekend. Sorry dude." Lucas hoped that the solemn expression on his face looked genuine enough to fool Charlie.

"Sucks to be you man. But I get it, no worries." And then the two went back to tuning out what Harper was saying. Like Mr. Matthews, she too had been given a promotion to teach English classes at the high school.

As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the day, Lucas rushed out of Harper's classroom and sprinted to his locker. Opening his locker in record time, he swiftly grabbed all his necessary textbooks and notebooks, his leather jacket, and his backpack. He was on his way to meet up with Riley at her locker when he saw Charlie and Missy heading down the hallway in his direction. Not wanting to be caught by the two of them, Lucas opened the closest door he could find, and ducked into the room. Closing the door, he shut his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his erratically beating heart.

"Kid, I think you got the wrong room. You lost?" A rough voice called out.

Lucas jumped about a foot into the air. "Jesus Christ!" He swore loudly.

"Hey, now. No need to take the Lord's name in vain." Chuckled Harley.

Apparently, Harper and Mr. Matthews were not the only people who got moved up to the high school.

"Janitor Harley?"

"In the flesh. Friar, right? You the one Bigby tasked with helping me out for the rest of the year."

There was no question in the second part of what Harley was saying, but Lucas answered any way. "Yeah, that' me." Lucas nodded his head absentmindedly, trying to get his heartbeat back to normal from being startled out of his wits.

"Any reason in particular why you decided to step into my office?" Harley asked, looking at Lucas expectantly.

"I, um, I was trying to hide away from my friends." He answered the adult. "I didn't want to run into them."

Harley rubbed his chin in thought. "You know, most people would want to meet up with their friends, not run away from them. But whatever floats your boat kid. Although, color me curious. Why are you avoiding your friends?"

Lucas had all the intention to spout some random bullshit story to get Janitor Harley off his back. But the truth came gushing out instead. "I am in the school play and I suck. So in order to get better, I am going to be running my lines with Riley Matthews, and I cannot let anyone know. Especially my friends."

"Mini Zippy? You meeting up with Mini Zippy? What were you supposed to catch up with her?" Harley asked, face suddenly hard.

Lucas raised his left hand to check the time, and winced. "Seven minutes ago?"

Janitor Harley's face hardened more. "And you are still here because? Pretty sure the halls have cleared out by now. Your reputation will still be intact."

Not being able to look at Harley's disappointed face any longer, Lucas nodded his head. "Right. I'm going to go now." He turned towards the door and started to open it.

Just as his hand was turning the doorknob Harley spoke. "You know, I used to care more about my bad reputation than making real friends in high school. I surrounded myself with lackeys and thought I ruled. And I did, with fear. It was great."

"Oh?" Lucas commented, turning around to look at Harley again, intrigued by what he was saying.

"Yeah, but then I was slapped in the face with cold reality." Harley said, a distant look in his eyes.

"What happened?" Lucas asked in bated breath, somehow knowing that the next thing Harley would say would be very important.

"I graduated high school and went community college. Got a degree, but had no job. That is until the one person whose life I used to terrorize in high school put in a good word for me with his boss, twice. I thought that if I hardened myself to the other people that would give me the power and be less likely to get hurt. Instead, I crippled myself the most by never having any real relationships. Funny how that the works don't you think?" Harley stated, ruefully.

The words Harley just said wrapped themselves around in Lucas's mind, but it was hard for him to comprehend. "I guess." Lucas said in response, unsure and slightly shaken.

Harley just gave a small smile and walked over to the door to open it. "See tomorrow kid. Best of luck with Mini Zippy. She's one of the good ones."

Not knowing what to say to that, just nodded his head and walked out into the hallway. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts, that his feet subconsciously brought him to Riley's locker.

There she was waiting, her ever present watch dog and puppy near her. This time though, Farkle's genius girlfriend, Smackle, was there too. Lucas slowed his walk, and approached them cautiously. They hadn't seen him yet, so he was able to listen in on their conversation.

"Look Riles, Ranger Rick didn't show up. How do you even know this isn't some kind of set up?" Maya asked, enraged on her friend's behalf.

Riley heaved a sigh. "Trust me Maya, he really wants help running his lines. You didn't see him when he asked me."

"If that's the case, Pumpkin, then why is he making you wait on him for?" Maya challenged.

If there was anything Riley had learned over the years of friendship with Maya, it was how to deal with Maya when she was being so absolutely Maya.

"He probably just didn't want anyone to know I was helping him Maya." Riley explained slowly.

Maya shook her head. "That's such bullshit on his part. Why the jerk face can't just admit his shortcomings is beyond me. I am telling Riley, this is probably a set up."

Farkle, seeing the telltale exasperation in Riley's face decided to come to her rescue. Just like Riley, Farkle had a master degree in dealing with Maya's attitudes. "Maya, Riley may be right. I mean, just the fact that he even came up to Riley and asked for help proves that Lucas is being serious about this." Farkle tried to explain logically. "What do you think, Smackle?"

"Truthfully speaking, my love, while I am still unawares of the intricacies of the post-adolescence way of thought that is so common amongst our peers, it appears as though both Maya and you have valid points." Smackle replied.

"How you figure, Smackle?" Riley asked, curious to her second genius friend's unique thought process.

"Well, according to the countless of films geared towards females of the ages between eighteen and thirty-five, whenever a "cool" or "bad boy" wants to spend time with the "loser" girl, more often than not it is used as a plot device to humiliate said girl. However, this is the real world, and maybe Lucas really just needs that much help in being a better actor. According to your retelling of play rehearsals, that doesn't seem such a farfetched assumption." Smackle finished.

Maya snorted. "You can say that again. Huckleberry is horrible. I cannot wait for him to make a fool out of himself in front of everyone." She finished with a maniacal smirk spread widely across her face.

"All the hard work I put into making this play, down the drain in two hours." Farkle said, ruefully shaking his head.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again. Once a Huckleberry, always a Huckleberry." Maya stated firmly.

"What does that even mean Shortstack?" Lucas didn't even know when his feet led him to the group. All he knew was that he was not going to let them bad mouth him any longer.

The girl didn't waste a beat in replying. "It means, Hee-Haw, that you are a jerk face for keeping someone who is willing to help your ass waiting for fifteen minutes! What were you doing that you couldn't grace us with your presence your majesty?" Maya asked him, sarcasm dripping sharply from every word she spoke.

"None of your business, Hart." Lucas replied harshly, stepping closer to the fuming blonde, his own temper flaring higher and higher.

Maya grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close to her face. "Listen here, Ranger Rick. Riley is helping you. Against all better judgment, she is helping you of all people. You hurt her, I will punch you in the face. You got that?"

Before Lucas could say anything, Riley stepped up to the two of them and took Maya's fist off the front of Lucas's shirt. "Maya, I love you, but I'm a big girl now. I can handle this on my own."

"But Riles," Maya sputtered.

"No, Maya. You told me your concerns and I am still doing this. If this ends badly, then it's on me. You guys cannot be the Riley Committee forever. If I make mistakes, then they are mine to make alone. Okay?" Riley looked at Farkle, Smackle, and then Maya, hoping that they would listen to her.

"Okay Bubbles." Smackle was the first one to agree, just like Riley thought she would be.

"Yeah, okay Riley." Farkle followed, now he too was looking at Maya expectantly.

This time it was Maya who heaved a sigh when she realized she was being outnumbered. "I will always be a part of the Riley Committee, Riles, because I don't ever want to see you hurt. But I guess it's time to let the birdy fly free, huh?"

Riley's face broke into a wide smile. "Love you, Peaches."

"Are we going to go now or not?" Lucas said impatiently, ruining the moment. Something about seeing the four of them being all chummy was panging him painfully in the heart.

Maya glared at him and was about to open her mouth when Riley interrupted. "Yes. We are. Bye guys!" With that, Riley grabbed onto Lucas's arm and dragged him away towards the exit of the school.

It wasn't until Lucas was standing in front of the Matthews' apartment door waiting for Riley to unlock it, did he realize the additional consequences of asking Riley to help him out with the play. Not only would he be spending more time with the girl who he once been friends with, but he would be coming face-to-face with her father for the first time in years in a non-school setting.

"Mr. Friar." Mr. Matthews said as soon as he saw Lucas and his daughter step into the apartment. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, and a disapproving look took residence on his face.

Well shit.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: And I am back! At least for this chapter. I really want to finish this story but writer's block is truly the devil. And it doesn't help that the show got canceled and "A Walk to Remember" is no longer on Netflix that last time I checked. So yeah, bad apology, but I am sorry for the long delay. Hope you like this chapter. All mistakes are mine. I don't have a beta and I do minimal editing. Enjoy!**

It shouldn't have shocked Lucas to find that Mr. Matthews was standing in the sitting room of the apartment waiting for the two of them. He was, after all, Riley's father. How that thought had escaped his mind, Lucas had no idea.

"I see that the two of you have finally made your way home. Any particular reason you were so late, Riley?" Mr. Matthews asked, looking directly at Lucas despite asking the question to his daughter. Lucas inwardly cringed and looked away down at the coffee table. The dried ring on the chestnut wood suddenly held his awareness.

He felt Riley gave a little shrug from his side before she replied back. "Well, you know how it gets at the end of the school day, Dad. Everyone is rushing to get to their lockers without a care; you know that I like to take my time. I do believe that is one of the reasons you don't stay behind to come home with me. And then of course, it's New York City. When are the subways ever on time when you need them to be, huh?"

Mr. Matthews gave a low scoff and finally shifted his gaze to Riley. "Riley, while you are usually do get home later than I do, it is a tad out of the norm for you to be this late. I cannot help but wonder why exactly that is." Again, Mr. Matthews gave an obvious look over to Lucas before going back to Riley.

The father and daughter were suddenly caught in a silent conversation all done between facial expressions and gestures that Lucas was not privy to. In fact, it appeared as though the two forgot that Lucas was even in the room. Lucas was more than happy for this bit of reprieve. He had been overtaken by gut-tightening guilt from the moment he saw Mr. Matthews.

If there was anyone Lucas felt as though he disappointed more than his own mother, it was Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews had met with Lucas and his parents when they first moved to New York City. He made sure to let Lucas know that if he ever needed anything, if the cultural shock of moving from Texas to New York sometimes got too much or anything at all, he would be there as someone he could come to talk to. At the time, Lucas was very appreciative of the offer, since he never really had a teacher who would go through such lengths for their students. The only thing that Lucas knew from his experiences with teachers back in Texas was that they were quick to judge, and their dedication to students end at 4pm. So to have a teacher who would take the time to even think about how different life was going to be now was a pleasant surprise to Lucas.

It came to an even bigger surprise to him that the sentiment didn't change for Mr. Matthews even after he became friends with Riley. Sure, Mr. Matthews started acting a bit weird and neurotic whenever Lucas and Riley talked, however his initial feelings towards Lucas was steady. He never judged Lucas on his previous record, and his past never colored Mr. Matthews opinion of him. In fact, Mr. Matthews had great faith in Lucas's ability to grow into a great person if he let himself.

Even after Lucas had shoved Riley into the locker and hurt her, Mr. Matthews still tried to talk to Lucas to see what was going on. Lucas, however, was not in the mood talk to anyone about what was going on and ignored all Mr. Matthews's attempts. He was very sure at some point Mr. Matthews had called his mother to figure out what was going on. Later Mr. Matthews kept looking at him with understanding, rather than pity, but it still caused intense anger in him. But after awhile, he gave up just like everyone else. And that thought caused Lucas to feel more anger than anything else, even though it wasn't fair to Mr. Matthews and completely illogical.

"Cory, let it go. They are here now, and they should get started immediately. Curfew is still a thing, even if school stuff seems to get in the way." A voice called out, breaking Lucas's inner musings.

There Mrs. Matthews stood, in her impeccably put together. There was no sign of her no doubt busy day in her blouse, blazer, or skirt. Lucas can never recall a time when Mrs. Matthews ever looked anything less than perfect. She looked exactly like the type of person anyone would expect a hot shot lawyer who wins cases would look like.

Seeing Mr. Matthews and Mrs. Matthews together always made Lucas wonder how exactly they could have ever gotten together and stay together. Lucas felt another pang in his heart thinking how two people so different could still be in love after so many years while his own parents, who seemed too compatible with similar interests couldn't.

Shaking his head to try to clear his thoughts, Lucas cleared his throat and turned to Riley. "Where are we going to work?"

Riley finally looked away from her father and now mother, and turned to him. "We are working in my room. Follow me." She said with a slight smile.

For a second, Lucas stood struck by how pretty that smile was. He suddenly flashed back to that subway ride all those years ago when she first fell into his lap. It was the first thing he noticed about her.

"I don't think so Riles. You are working right here." Mr. Matthews said, voice rising.

"Mom?" Riley said, turning to her mother pleading.

Her mother gave heaved a sigh. "Cory, just let them go. Riley will keep the door open. Right, Riley?" She said, looking expectant. Lucas felt heat rise to his cheeks in embarrassment at the implication.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Riley asked confused.

Lucas wanted to face palm, she can't be that naïve could she? But then again, this is the same girl who has an unnatural love for a planet that is no longer planet. So yeah, she totally could be this naïve.

"Come on, Matthews, show me to where we are working so that way we can finish this up as soon as possible." Lucas said, trying to keep his voice light and devoid of any real emotion.

Riley nodded, and started walking down the hall. Lucas followed after her, going slower to inspect the photo frames lining the walls leading to her bedroom as much as he could without being obvious. There were many that showed Riley and her family at different times in their lives. It wasn't until he saw those photos did it strike Lucas at how different Riley looked from her middle school photo to her most current high school photo. Riley, who seemed so full of life and color in middle school, was now muted and dulled. It was so weird. Lucas couldn't help but wonder what had happened.

Once they got into Riley's room, they quickly got their scripts out and started running lines. After a few times of going through scenes, Lucas's mouth started getting dry. "Hey, do you think I could get some water?" He asked, giving a little cough.

Riley looked at him in sympathy. "Yeah sure, I am so sorry I didn't get a chance to ask if you wanted anything before. Just give me a moment."

Lucas nodded as she left the room. He was just sitting around, rereading the script again when he started to hear some voices coming from the kitchen area. Getting curious, he got up from his perch on Riley's bed, and walked out towards where the voices were coming from. He hid himself in the shadows in the corridor as he saw Mr. Matthews, Mrs. Matthews, and Riley arguing. His curiosity increased as soon as he realized he was part of the subject they were talking about.

"Riley, I know that you want to help Lucas. But what do you know about his intentions?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"His intentions? God, you sound like Maya. I thought his intentions were quite clear. He didn't want to be made a fool of during the play so he asked for help. What other intentions could he possibly have?"

Mr. Matthews looked incredulous. "Riley, you cannot think that is the only thing an eighteen year old boy wants from a wholesome girl like you." Hearing Mr. Matthews say that made Lucas flush with anger; so much for Mr. Matthews's faith.

Riley rolled her eyes. "Well then Dad, tell me what exactly does an eighteen year old boy want from a wholesome girl like me?"

From the look that Lucas saw flash across Riley's face, she obviously had some pleasure in seeing her father gape like a fish. At least until he shouted "HE WANTS TO TOUCH SOMETHING! I know what boys like that want, because I was a boy like that." He finished plainly.

"Okay, so I'll let him touch something." Riley said with a careless shrug.

Once again, it seemed as though Mr. Matthews didn't have anything to say. "Topanga!" He called out to his wife.

"Okay time out." Mrs. Matthews finally interjected. "Riley, stop trying to give your father a heart attack. Please? And Cory, you need to just take a breath and realize that even you don't believe that is why Lucas is here. For all the things that have happened to that boy and everything that he has done in response, you still believe in him and his ability to do good. So can we please just go back to what this is really about?" She looked at her husband expectantly. He couldn't stand looking at her, and turned back to his daughter.

"Riley please listen to me." Mr. Matthews pleaded with her.

"Dad, we've been through this already." Riley replied, suddenly looking very tired.

"I know we have, but can you really tell me that everything is okay? What about this new arrangement that you have Lucas? Can you tell me that you know exactly what you are risking?"

Riley walked to her dad purposefully. "Dad," she said as she grabbed his hand in hers. "You and Mom promised that everything was my choice. So please can you trust me?"

Mr. Matthews took his hand out of Riley's grasp, and brought both of his hands to both her cheeks. "I will always trust you Riley, always."

"We both do." Mrs. Matthews said, her voice filled with emotion.

A bright, smile spread across her face. "Thank you," Riley replied looking at both her parents, "Both of you."

It appeared that everything was finally all settled between the three of them, so Lucas hurriedly made his way back to Riley's room. He couldn't help but turn the conversation he overheard in his head over and over.

So deep in his thoughts that he was not aware of when Riley came back into the room.

"Here is your water." Riley handed him the glass that was in her hand. "You okay?" She asked when she saw the searching look on Lucas's face.

He was missing something, but he didn't know what.

"I'm fine."

But, he was going to find out what that is.


End file.
